Cameroon upsets Brazil 1-0

Cameroon beat Brazil 1-0 in the Confederations Cup as Samuel Eto scored to give victory to the African champions.

Reported by Indo-Asian News Service

Read Time: 3 mins

Lyon:

Cameroon proved that even Brazil's vast talent pool cannot replace Ronaldo and Rivaldo at will. A stunning upset needed a stunning goal and Samuel Eto'o obliged to give the African champions a 1-0 win over the world champions in the Confederations Cup.
Punishing Brazil's lacklustre approach to the game yesterday, Mallorca's Eto'o pounced on a defensive error, split two central defenders and sent a looping first-time volley from well outside the penalty area over Dida for the winner eight minutes from time.
The result pushed Cameroon atop the Group B standings alongside Turkey, which beat the United States 2-1.
From now on, Brazil is playing for survival in the tournament. Ronaldinho, the remaining R of the World Cup's famed "triple R" attack, was mostly a non-factor.
As lethargic as the Brazilians were, so the Africans were as eager to wipe out the disgrace of their first-round exit in the World Cup.
Turkey beats US
Turkey confirmed its World Cup stature. It came from behind to beat the United States with Tuncay Sanli earning a penalty and scoring the decider to boost the World Cup bronze medalist's chances in the tournament.
"We were in control over the full 90 minutes and should have won by a bigger margin," Turkey coach Senol Gunes said.
The Americans went ahead after 36 minutes on a counterattack when Landon Donovan broke through to cross to striker DaMarcus Beasley who made the header.
A few minutes later, Tuncay, Turkey's best player, threatened through the middle and was sandwiched by two defenders, earning a penalty Okan Yilmaz clinically converted in the 39th.
The winner after 70 minutes was a beauty. Volkan Arslan fed a splendid through ball to Tuncay, who rounded goalie Tim Howard and slipped it into the empty net from a sharp angle.
The stands too were largely empty.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter did the official rounds just ahead of the Turkey game against a backdrop of a half-empty Geoffroy-Guichard stadium. There were only 16,944 people in the 36,000-seat stadium.
On the opening day, the Stade de France was only half full for the Japan-New Zealand game, and world champion Brazil could fill it only two-thirds for its opener against Cameroon.
Organisers did not even attempt to sell tickets for the upper tier of the stadium, where Brazil lost the 1998 World Cup final to France.
The tournament has come under sharp criticism from players and clubs as an unnecessary addition at the end of a long season, and fans have showed apathy from an apparent soccer glut.
Only host France is drawing capacity crowds and today's game against Japan is already a sellout.
The fans won't necessarily see the best players though, since the logic of the Confederations Cup is catching up quickly with the French.
Coach Jacques Santini said three players at most will be held over from the lineup which beat Colombia.
With only two days between games, Santini promised that "between 80 and 100 per cent" of the team will be replaced for the Japan game in Saint-Etienne. (AP)